Geraldine League | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Demonym(s) | Geraldine |
| Membership |
|
| Government | Military alliance |
• Founders | Manus O'Donnell, Conn O'Neill |
| Establishment | 1539 |
| Today part of | Ireland |
The Geraldine League was a short-lived Irish alliance established in 1539 by Manus O'Donnell and Conn O'Neill.
The league was founded with the goal of restoring Gerald FitzGerald to the earldom of Kildare. The movement ultimately grew to encompass the goal of expelling the English from Ireland, and in the fall of 1539 the League invaded and looted The Pale. After sacking the towns of Ardee and Navan, the League withdrew from Pale and were caught by surprise by the forces of Lord Deputy Leonard Gray, who ultimately routed them at the Battle of Belahoe. The League gradually dissolved over the course of the next few years with the arrival of a new Lord Deputy, Anthony St. Leger, who was able to restore order to English-controlled Ireland. [1] [2]
Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the principal residence of the family.
Conn Bacagh O'Neill, 1st Earl of Tyrone, was king of Tyrone. In 1541 O'Neill travelled to England to submit to Henry VIII as part of the surrender and regrant policy that coincided with the creation of the Kingdom of Ireland. He was made Earl of Tyrone, but his plans to pass the title and lands on to a chosen successor Matthew were thwarted by a violent succession dispute that led to another son, Shane O'Neill, emerging triumphant.
Manus O'Donnell was an Irish lord and son of Sir Hugh Dubh O'Donnell. He was an important member of the O'Donnell dynasty based in County Donegal in Ulster.
Sir Edward Poynings KG was an English soldier, administrator and diplomat, and Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry VII of England.
The Tudor conquestof Ireland took place under the Tudor dynasty, which held the Kingdom of England during the 16th century. Following a failed rebellion against the crown by Silken Thomas, the Earl of Kildare, in the 1530s, Henry VIII was declared King of Ireland in 1542 by statute of the Parliament of Ireland, with the aim of restoring such central authority as had been lost throughout the country during the previous two centuries. Several people who helped establish the Plantations of Ireland also played a part later in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the West Country men.
From the 12th century onwards, a group of Normans invaded and settled in Gaelic Ireland. These settlers later became known as Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans. They originated mainly among Cambro-Norman families in Wales and Anglo-Normans from England, who were loyal to the Kingdom of England, and the English state supported their claims to territory in the various realms then comprising Ireland. During the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages the Hiberno-Normans constituted a feudal aristocracy and merchant oligarchy, known as the Lordship of Ireland. In Ireland, the Normans were also closely associated with the Gregorian Reform of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Over time the descendants of the 12th-century Norman settlers spread throughout Ireland and around the world, as part of the Irish diaspora; they ceased, in most cases, to identify as Norman, Cambro-Norman or Anglo-Norman.
The Battle of Knockdoe took place on 19 August 1504 at Knockdoe, in the Parish of Lackagh, County Galway, between two Anglo-Irish lords—Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, and Ulick Fionn Burke, lord of Clanricarde—along with their respective Irish allies. The cause was a dispute between Maelsechlainn mac Tadhg Ó Cellaigh (O'Kelly), King of Ui Maine – Mod. Irish Uí Mháine) and Clanricarde. The major contemporary sources for this battle are the Gaelic Irish annals and a sixteenth-century manuscript written in the Pale known as "the Book of Howth".
Gerald FitzGerald, 11th Earl of Kildare, also known as the "Wizard Earl", was an Irish peer. He was the son of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare and his second wife Elizabeth Grey.
The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579–1583) was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions in Ireland launched by the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty of Desmond in Munster against English rule. The second rebellion began in July 1579 when James Fitzmaurice landed in Ireland with a force of Papal troops, triggering an insurrection across the south of Ireland on the part of the Desmond dynasty, their allies, and others who were dissatisfied for various reasons with English government of the country. The rebellion ended with the 1583 death of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, and the defeat of the rebels.
Gerard FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, was a leading figure in 16th-century Irish History. In 1513 he inherited the title of Earl of Kildare and position of Lord Deputy of Ireland from his father.
Events from the year 1539 in Ireland.
Sir Gerald Aylmer was an Irish judge in the time of Henry VIII and played a key part in enforcing the Dissolution of the Monasteries. His numerous descendants included the Barons Aylmer.
Thomas FitzJohn FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Kildare, was an Irish peer and statesman of the fifteenth century who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kildare, was an English noblewoman, the second wife of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare. Her father was Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset.
The Battle of Belahoe or Ballyhoe was fought in 1539 between the O'Neills and O'Donnells against English forces, in which the O'Neills and O'Donnells were defeated.
Sir Thomas Luttrell was a wealthy Anglo-Irish landowner of the sixteenth-century Irish Pale. He was also a distinguished lawyer and judge who held the offices of Solicitor General for Ireland and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.
Walter Wellesley (c.1470-1539) was a sixteenth-century Irish cleric and judge. He was Prior of Great Connell Priory, Bishop of Kildare 1529-39, and Master of the Rolls in Ireland.
Sir William Darcy (c.1460–1540) was a leading Anglo-Irish statesman of the Pale in the early sixteenth century; for many years he held the office of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. He wrote an influential treatise, The Decay of Ireland, which led to his being called "the father of the movement for political reformation in Ireland". His exceptional height gave rise to his nick-name "Great Darcy".
Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Earl of Kildare KG, known variously as "Garret the Great" or "The Great Earl", was Ireland's premier peer. He served as Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1477 to 1494, and from 1496 onwards. His power was so great that he was called "the uncrowned King of Ireland".
Sir William Sarsfield was an Irish landowner, public official and soldier of the sixteenth century.